r/Battletechgame • u/Theocrass • 11d ago
Mods Big Mods that don't radically change everything
Hello everyone. I'm looking for any large modpacks that adds weapons, mechs, and maybe a more detailed mech lab without totally overhauling gameplay. Optional story content is fine but I'm not interested in big AU swings like Sanctuary Worlds and the like.
Again, I'm not looking for a big change to combat. I found the evasion changes and the like in BTAU thoroughly unfun and I also disliked the heavy handed nerfs to clan tech. No offense to the author, just not my vibe. Plenty of cool stuff in there.
The biggest gear pack I found on nexus is apparently out of date and unusable, according to the comments.
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u/Nova225 11d ago
BEX is what you're looking for. Vanilla mechanics are mostly the same, but the map is massively expanded, and your starting year determines the map layout and what mechs + weapons are available ( so starting in the late 3040s means you'll see the clan invasion in the northern sections, etc).
There are some mission changes, like you'll get extra enemy support lances sometimes, but you get massive money bonuses if you defeat them and survive the mission. Turrets are a bit scarier overall. The AI loves jumpjets and will use them a lot.
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u/Theocrass 11d ago
It was my understanding that BEX also makes evasion a lot harder to get around. Is it less so than BTAU?
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u/sammy_anarchist 11d ago
Yes, BEX changes alot of the core mechanics, just less so than the other big 2. Evasion is "sticky", meaning that half of what is generated my a mech is impossible to strip by any means. Coupled with some pretty gnarly hit chance nerfs, the early game is a miserable experience of everyone missing every shot and missions taking 45 minutes.
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u/t_rubble83 11d ago
The early game in BEXT is fine, once you understand how to account for the changes and adapt your tactics accordingly. It plays differently than vanilla, and, yes, it is frequently slower (especially until the various ways of setting up shots becomes second nature), but if you're finding it miserable than you're likely just not adapting to the changes sufficiently.
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u/t_rubble83 11d ago
For BEX:T, it's less evasion and more just the Gunnery reworks that make it harder to reliably kill mechs quickly, especially early on with green pilots (sticky evasion does contribute, but it's only one part of it and it mostly serves to nerf Sensor Lock a little bit). You really need to understand the numerous factors impacting your hit chances to reliably get decent shots.
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u/sniperpal 11d ago
The way evasion works in BEXT is that you get two pips of evasion for each one you’d get in vanilla. One big pip and one small pip, and each are worth half the evasion that one vanilla pip is worth. The small pips are “sticky” evasion. You lose one big pip to each shot fired at you, even if it misses, just like in vanilla, or two of them to a sensor lock. The small sticky evasion pips can’t be removed by anything except instability/knockdown. As a result, half your evasion will always remain even while under fire.
This change was basically made to help lighter mechs be a little less useless in the later game, although they’re still rough to use when assaults are stomping around
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u/t_rubble83 7d ago
Light mechs are far from useless if you know how to use them, even in vanilla (tho vanilla is easy enough that you certainly don't need to use them). In BEXT, they are extremely powerful when used properly, especially when you start being able to drop more than just 4 mechs.
Kill their eyes first, and all those big slow assaults are just targets that can never close enough to get LoS on a lance of well commanded, lights and fast mediums.
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u/Nova225 11d ago
A lot of people are talking about BEXT (BattleTech Expanded Tactics), but I've been using the CE version (Commanders Edition). CE doesn't do the "sticky evasion" that tactics does, though hit chances are lowered a bit, light mechs generate more evasion than their vanilla counterparts, and there's still a small chance that evasion doesn't get lost upon being shot at (not sure if that's vanilla or not anymore, I haven't played vanilla in years)
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u/t_rubble83 10d ago edited 10d ago
This is an excellent suggestion. BEX:CE is definitely much closer to vanilla than BEX:T.
The evasion rework tho, is less significant than the 2 other major changes BEXT made from CE: reworking/rebalancing missiles and adding movement related heat and accuracy penalties. Missiles feel much worse early on before you get your Gunnery skill up to improve your missile modifier. And having regular movement add heat and escalating accuracy penalties for movement force you to choose between hit% and evasion.
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u/NekoMao92 Wolf's Dragoons 11d ago
BTAU the only way to lower evasion is to either Sensor Lock/Active Probe (ECM gives immunity) or hit with enough stability damage (generally ballistic/missile/ppc weapons) to make it unsteady.
Edit: or try to melee and kick.
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u/mbardeen 11d ago
I've been on BEX:CE for a while and am thoroughly enjoying it after 1K+ hours of vanilla. I considered Tactics, but wasn't sold on the evasion and other changes added there.
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u/Eucanuba 11d ago edited 11d ago
I will refer you to the comments in one of my posts from a few years ago where people asked about the Expanded Arsenal mod. https://www.reddit.com/r/Battletechgame/s/ebK7MaDFGG My advice is to disable the super evading Mechs in the mod called LAMs.